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A review by dsnake1
The Wall by Mario Alberti, Antoine Charreyron
2.0
NetGalley and the publisher, Magnetic Press, provided me with a review copy.
The Wall is a post-climate-apocalypse graphic novel that's a bit Mad Max, a bit Elysium (the 2013 film), and a bit accidental zombies.
If that sounds awesome, it's because the concept is awesome. Sadly, the execution, from the art to the pacing to the writing all fell extremely short.
My two biggest complaints are the pacing, which seems to skip over a lot of necessary characterization and relationship-building, and how hard this comic is to follow. Art in a comic isn't just supposed to be beautiful, although that's nice. It's supposed to tell part of the story. The art simply wasn't geared toward that. There were far too many far-away 'scape scenes with dialog bubbles where it wasn't clear who was talking. The dialog/text often seemed to jump around, and the art didn't help bridge the gap.
Those two issues plagued every other part of the comic. It turned the plot from what, broad-strokes, should be an emotional, enthralling series of actions as our characters navigate this incredibly interesting setting into a boring, confusing mess with unmotivated characters making weird decisions for the sake of the plot. Sadly, there are enough issues throughout that I can't recommend this for anything other than reading a setting synopsis because that's far and away the most interesting part of this comic.
The Wall is a post-climate-apocalypse graphic novel that's a bit Mad Max, a bit Elysium (the 2013 film), and a bit accidental zombies.
If that sounds awesome, it's because the concept is awesome. Sadly, the execution, from the art to the pacing to the writing all fell extremely short.
My two biggest complaints are the pacing, which seems to skip over a lot of necessary characterization and relationship-building, and how hard this comic is to follow. Art in a comic isn't just supposed to be beautiful, although that's nice. It's supposed to tell part of the story. The art simply wasn't geared toward that. There were far too many far-away 'scape scenes with dialog bubbles where it wasn't clear who was talking. The dialog/text often seemed to jump around, and the art didn't help bridge the gap.
Those two issues plagued every other part of the comic. It turned the plot from what, broad-strokes, should be an emotional, enthralling series of actions as our characters navigate this incredibly interesting setting into a boring, confusing mess with unmotivated characters making weird decisions for the sake of the plot. Sadly, there are enough issues throughout that I can't recommend this for anything other than reading a setting synopsis because that's far and away the most interesting part of this comic.